• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.1222-1230
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• 2022

The rotor blade is an important component of a tidal stream turbine and is affected by a large thrust force and load due to the high density of seawater. Therefore, the performance must be secured through the geometrical and structural design of the blade and the blade structural safety to which the composite material is applied. In this study, a 1 MW class large turbine blade was designed using the blade element momentum (BEM) theory. GFRP is a fiber-reinforced plastic used for turbine blade materials. A sandwich structure was applied with CFRP to lay-up the blade cross-section. In addition, to evaluate structural safety according to flow variations, static load analysis within the linear elasticity range was performed using the fluid-structure interactive (FSI) method. Structural safety was evaluated by analyzing tip deflection, strain, and failure index of the blade due to bending moment. As a result, Model-B was able to reduce blade tip deflection and weight. In addition, safety could be secured by indicating that the failure index, inverse reserve factor (IRF), was 1 or less in all load ranges excluding 3.0*Vr of Model-A. In the future, structural safety will be evaluated by applying various failure theories and redesigning the laminated pattern as well as the change of blade material.